Findings. | |
Requirement to Study Feasibility. | |
Electric Service to City Departments and Facilities. | |
Contracting with Developers to Install Electric Facilities at New Developments. |
The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco hereby finds and declares as follows:
(a) The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has been providing clean power and other electric services to City departments and other entities for almost 100 years.
(b) The California Constitution, Article XI, Section 9, authorizes the City to provide electric service. The Raker Act (38 Stat. 242, 1913) requires the City to develop a hydroelectric system and authorizes power sales from it to any end use customer. Under Charter Section 8B.123, the PUC has exclusive charge of the City's energy supplies and utilities including, but not limited to, the hydroelectric facilities at Hetch Hetchy. Pursuant to that authority, the PUC should maximize the benefits of these energy supplies and utilities for the benefit of the people of San Francisco.
(c) Section 16.101 of the Charter declares that it is the purpose and intention of the people of the City and County, when public interest and necessity demand, that public utilities shall be gradually acquired and ultimately owned by the City and County.
(d) In order to realize the benefits of the City's energy supplies and utilities and in furtherance of Charter Section 16.101, the City should consider the feasibility of supplying electricity to all new City developments, including, without limitation, military base reuse projects, redevelopment projects, projects occupying any portion of public land, and projects funded in whole or in part by local, State, or Federal funds and other City projects. The City has typically provided electricity to these types of projects in addition to (i) City departments, facilities, tenants, (ii) entities providing services on behalf of or in concert with the City, and (iii) other governmental entities and nonprofits. The Board of Supervisors expects that the City will continue to serve these types of projects.
(e) In addition to the types of projects identified in (d) above, certain other private projects seeking City approvals, including but not limited to, new or substantial rehabilitation of more than 10 residential units or new or substantial rehabilitation of more than 10,000 square feet of occupiable space, present good opportunities for City electric service. The City shall consider the feasibility of supplying electricity to such projects where City electric service would benefit the City and the project and where such service would be consistent with the PUC's resources, budget, business plans, and priorities.
(f) The City's provision of electricity provides for clean, reliable, and safe electric service as well as economic benefits to the City and the customer.
(g) The benefits of City-provided electric service include local control, lower rates, commitment to local communities, promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, not-for-profit operations, public accountability, reliability of service, full attention to customer service, and the use of procedures and practices that are protective of workers, the public, and the environment.
(h) The additional revenue provided by serving electricity to new customers can be used to address the significant deferred maintenance for various power facilities, including substations, hydroelectric generators, and street lights under the jurisdiction of the PUC for the benefit of San Francisco.
(Added by Ord. 47-06, File No. 051889, App. 3/25/2006; amended by Ord. 247-14
, File No. 140704, App. 12/17/2014, Eff. 1/16/2015)
(a) The PUC shall examine the feasibility of supplying electricity to all new City developments, particularly those that would potentially yield the highest benefit to the City, including, without limitation, military base reuse projects, redevelopment projects, projects occupying any portion of public land, projects funded in whole or in part by local, State, or Federal funds, other City projects, and certain other private projects seeking City approvals.
(b) If, after considering the cost of providing service to a new project, the PUC deems a project to be beneficial to the City, the project sponsor shall work with the PUC to prepare an assessment of the feasibility of the City providing electric service to the project. The assessment shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) electric load projection and schedule; (2) evaluation of existing electric infrastructure and new infrastructure that will be needed; (3) the potential for on-site generation and load reduction through energy efficiency and demand response; (4) business structure cost analysis; and (5) financial and cost recovery period analysis. The assessment shall determine whether the addition of the new customer will benefit the City and its existing customers, considering the additional costs to serve the new customer.
(c) Subject to required approvals and the assessment in Section 99.2(b), the PUC shall supply electricity to new City developments and other projects, to the extent consistent with its responsibility for the exclusive management, jurisdiction, and control of energy supplies and utilities of the City as provided in Section 8B.121 of the Charter.
(Added by Ord. 47-06, File No. 051889, App. 3/25/2006; amended by Ord. 247-14
, File No. 140704, App. 12/17/2014, Eff. 1/16/2015)
(a) All City departments, including departments located in or on non-City-owned facilities and properties, shall receive electric service from the PUC unless the PUC determines that such service is not feasible or the City's lease or contract does not permit such service. All tenants in City facilities or on City property shall receive electric service from the PUC unless the PUC determines that such service is not feasible. Any lease, or sub-lease for a City facility or City property shall include standard language identifying the PUC as the electric provider unless the PUC determines that such service is not feasible.
(b) All City departments shall work with the PUC to plan for, design, and construct electric infrastructure to determine the most beneficial means of constructing and funding infrastructure needed for connection to the electric grid to maximize the long-term benefits and minimize costs to the City.
If and when a Community Choice Aggregation ("CCA") program in San Francisco is implemented and serving customers, the PUC shall sell excess power supplies to the CCA, to the extent feasible and consistent with good utility practice and the PUC's exclusive jurisdiction under the Charter.
New Ordinance NoticePublisher's Note: This section has been ADDED by new legislation (Ord. 65-21
, approved 5/7/2021, effective 6/7/2021). The text of the section will be included below when the enacting legislation is effective.
[(a)]1
The PUC may contract with developers that are subject to a development agreement with the City to install utility facilities that the PUC would otherwise be required to install, without competitive bidding, provided that:
[(1)] The PUC has determined it is feasible to provide power to the development project, and the developer has agreed that the PUC will be the power provider for the project;
[(2)] The City has entered into a development agreement that (i) requires the developer to complete infrastructure for the project; and (ii) includes a workforce and job creation program that, among other things, requires nondiscrimination and the payment of prevailing wages; and
[(3)] The PUC has reasonably determined that the amount payable to the developer for the PUC work is equal to, or less than, the amount the PUC would expect to pay to perform the same work itself through its standard contracting process.
(b) The PUC may consider every contract entered into under this Section 99.5 as supplemental to the work required under the development agreement, provided the PUC includes in the contract: (1) the nondiscrimination and workforce requirements contained in the applicable development agreement, so that the PUC work is performed in the same manner and with the same workforce requirements as the other infrastructure work to be completed by the developer under the development agreement; and (2) a detailed description of the developer’s scope of work and PUC’s costs. The PUC may exclude from the contract any City contracting requirements that were waived by the Board of Supervisors in its approval of the applicable development agreement.
(Added by Ord. 65-21, File No. 210260, App. 5/7/2021, Eff. 6/7/2021)
CODIFICATION NOTE